The six steps in order, what each one costs, and where this site covers it in detail. This is for a new LLC: registering an LLC you already have in another state is a different filing.
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For most small businesses the cheapest choice is the state where you live and run the business. Forming somewhere else, such as Wyoming or Delaware, does not take you out of your home state: an LLC that does business there still has to register in it as a foreign LLC, which means a second filing fee, a second registered agent and, in most states, a second yearly or two-yearly report.
The name has to be different from the names already on the state's business records, and it has to show that the business is an LLC, usually with "LLC" or "Limited Liability Company" at the end. Search the state's business database before you file. In most states reserving a name first is optional and costs extra. Alabama is the exception: it requires a name reservation before you file, $28 online.
Almost every state requires an LLC to name a registered agent: a person or company with a street address in the state who accepts lawsuits and official notices for the LLC during business hours. New York makes a registered agent optional, Pennsylvania requires a registered office instead, and Minnesota requires a registered office but makes the agent optional for LLCs formed there. You can be your own agent if you have a street address in the state and are there during business hours, but that address then goes on the public record. A registered agent service gives the LLC its own address in the state for a yearly fee.
The document that creates the LLC is called articles of organization in most states, and a certificate of formation or certificate of organization in others. Filed online, the state fee runs from $35 (Montana) to $520 (Massachusetts). Some states collect more than the filing fee at the start: in Nevada it is $425 in all, and the fee table lists what each state adds. Arizona (unless the registered agent's address is in Maricopa or Pima County), Nebraska and New York also require the LLC to publish a notice in a newspaper after it is formed; the newspaper charges for that on top of the state fees.
You can file it yourself and pay only the state fee, or have a formation company file it. Most formation companies also sell the registered agent service, so the real comparison is the first year and the renewal together.
Its address on the filing, first year of registered agent included. We may earn a referral fee if you sign up.
The operating agreement says who owns the LLC, how decisions are made, how money is taken out and what happens if an owner leaves or dies. It is not part of the formation filing; you keep it with the LLC's records. Write one even if you are the only owner: it is your record of how the LLC is run.
The EIN is the LLC's federal tax number. Apply for it directly with the IRS once the state has approved the LLC. It is free: the IRS says "You never have to pay a fee for an EIN," so skip any site that charges for one. Applying online needs a Social Security number or ITIN; the same IRS page lists the other ways to apply. Then open a bank account in the LLC's name, and ask the bank which documents it wants.
One federal filing you can skip: under FinCEN's final rule, in effect since August 14, 2026, an LLC formed in the United States is exempt from the beneficial ownership (BOI) report.
Most states want a yearly or two-yearly report, and some charge a yearly tax; depending on the state the first can fall due in the LLC's first year. The "Recurring" column of the fee table shows each state's. A missed report can lead to late fees, loss of good standing (the state's confirmation that the LLC is up to date) and, in the end, dissolution; what happens and when depends on the state.
Already have an LLC and starting to do business in another state? That is a different filing: see the state filing guides.